Page 328 - UAE Truncal States_Neat

The External Influences

Saudi Arabia. During the 19th century the Wahhabis had from time
to time dominated all or part of the Buraimi oasis, where they built a
fortress.00 But their occupation was not permanent, and they had
been dispossessed of the fort several limes. On occasions the
Wahhabis’ claim to the oasis was used by Muhammad 'Ali Pasha,
who had eclipsed the Wahhabis’ power, as the reason for trying to
wrest the Buraimi area from the NaTm.07 The last occupation of the
oasis by a resident Wahhabi garrison in the 19th century ended in
June 1869 after the NaTm had expelled them with the assistance of
'Azzan bin Qais, Sultan of Muscat.
Saudi interest in the oasis was revived in the 1920s, when inter­
tribal fighting led some tribal leaders who lived in the Buraimi area
and to the west of it, to travel to al Hasa and seek help from the
Governor, 'Abdullah bin Jaluwi. In 1925 and in the years up to 1929,
Wahhabi tax collectors were received by some of the tribal shaikhs
in the area and obtained zakah on camels and sheep.
In July 1933 King 'Abdul 'Aziz ibn Sa'ud granted a petroleum
concession to the Standard Oil Co., of California for: “. . . the eastern
portion of our Saudi Arab Kingdom, within its frontiers.”08 These
frontiers were not further specified, and the United Stales Govern­
ment was obliged to inquire about the actual extent of this
concession from the British Government, who slated that the eastern
frontier of the Kingdom was the so called Blue Line, agreed upon by
the British and Turkish Governments in the Convention of 1913/
1914; constitutionally Ibn Sa'ud succeeded the Turkish authorities
as sovereign of the area. However, the Saudi Government did not
accept the Blue Line as the eastern frontier, and an extended series of
meetings and exchange of notes between the Saudi and the British
governments followed. The last of these contacts before the Second
World War was an exchange of notes in December 1937; this marked
the end of this series of negotiations because no agreement could be
reached. After the War the chance of an amicable settlement was
more remote than ever because the search for oil was taken up again.
Newly-developed exploration methods nourished new hopes that oil-
bearing strata might be found beneath parts of the disputed territory.
In 1949, survey parties of the Arabian American Oil Company
(ARAMCO) traversed the coastal strip of Abu Dhabi’s territory as far
east as Abu Dhabi Island. This action triggered off another series of
protests and counter-representations, and the agreement between
the British and the Saudi governments of July 1950, to establish a

303